Cartwright, Cummings debate at Wilkes

WILKES-BARRE - They are competing to fill one seat in a U.S. House of Representatives composed of 435.

Whoever wins, the Democrat Matthew Cartwright or the Republican Laureen Cummings, the votes cast by the next representative in the reconfigured 17th Congressional District will count for just two-tenths of one percent. And yet, at a debate Wednesday night at Wilkes University, Mr. Cartwright and Ms. Cummings spoke as if they could change the world.

It wasn't entirely academic.

Mr. Cartwright, an attorney and shareholder of Munley, Munley & Cartwright, and Ms. Cummings, a home health nursing agency owner and licensed practical nurse, offered sharp contrasts in their proposals on restarting the economy, generating tax revenue to fund the government and eliminating the gridlock that has supplanted compromise in Congress.

Mr. Cartwright, 51, of Moosic, said he would endorse a "balanced" approach to solving annual budget deficits and gradually paying down the $16.1 trillion national debt. Part of that approach, he said, would include increasing the tax rate on income over $1 million by 3 percent or 4 percent - from 35 percent to 38 or 39 percent.

Ms. Cummings, 48, of Old Forge, said she supported replacing the income tax system with a 23 percent national sales tax plan backed by the Republican Representatives John Linder and Rob Woodall, of Georgia. Ms. Cummings branded it the "fair tax." Mr. Cartwright called the plan the "unfair tax" because he said it would affect every American, even those who currently do not pay income tax.

"There seems to be a climate of contempt for poverty in this country. That's what leads to comments like, 'I don't care about the 47 percent,'â" Mr. Cartwright said, paraphrasing the comments made by the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney at a fundraiser in Florida.

"I need to correct you on that," Ms. Cummings said. "It's not that Mitt Romney doesn't care about those people, he was talking about their votes."

It was one of several exchanges during the hour-long session in which the candidates invoked the names and policies of their parties' presidential candidates. Mr. Cartwright spoke favorably of the health care reform legislation backed by President Barack Obama. Ms. Cummings endorsed Mr. Romney's commitment to defense spending and his promise to repeal the health care reform package, popularly known as Obamacare.

Mr. Cartwright said he would support a major infrastructure bill and dedicate his career in Congress to restoring passenger rail service to Northeast Pennsylvania and alleviating congestion on Interstate 80 - a vital link to New York City for Monroe County commuters.

"We have to be looking east," Mr. Cartwright said. "Right now, Fridays and Sundays, Interstate 80 across New Jersey is a parking lot. In five years, it will be like that seven days a week."

Ms. Cummings, echoing the rhetoric of the tea party movement, said she favored limiting the federal government by shifting the powers of Congress and executive agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the states and local government. Instead of having federal regulators determine who would receive funding in an emergency, she said, states could be given a pot of money and divvy it up as it sees fit.

She also advocated a "part-time legislature" with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate retaining full-time jobs at home "so that they can keep in touch with reality." Under Ms. Cummings' plan, members of Congress would no longer be entitled to a government-backed pension.

"My American dream has turned into an American nightmare, along with many others," Ms. Cummings said, blaming Mr. Obama and the Democratic-led Senate for the sluggish economy and a pervasive lack of cooperation that resulted in years of fiscal uncertainty and increasing debt. "I need your help to keep America a free nation based on the rule of law, not mob rule."

Mr. Cartwright said Ms. Cummings' proposals would return the country to the darkest days of the economic downturn.

"My opponent really wants to turn the clock back about 3Â½ years and rehash the debates that have consumed Washington for the last 3Â½ years," Mr. Cartwright said.

Contact the writer: msisak@citizensvoice.com, @cvmikesisak on Twitter

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